Shopaholics Quiz - Are you a Shopaholic? Try this survey and find out how you and your friends rate. You’re watching TV and another advert targeted at teenagers comes on. Do you Realise that this was what was missing from your life, rush out to buy it then contemplate at home your newly perfect life (until the next ad tempts you) ( 5 points ) Admire the creative skills of the ad agency but wonder why someone would be stupid enough to believe the hype. Who needs that stuff anyway? ( 3 points ) Oh, you didn’t see the ad because you were busy writing posters against animal cruelty, child labour, electricity reform, and multinationals putting genetically modified ingredients in your food ( 1 point ) When the latest cool accessory/haircut/style comes along You’ve already got it and you’ll be dumping it next week – everyone will have it by then. ( 5 points ) You team together with some friends, buy one and share it – it’ll be out of fashion soon anyway ( 3 points ) You know this craze has been round 3 times this century already and borrow your grandmother’s. ( 1 point ) You get to the mall with no cash only to find that due to power failure and computer glitches your account shows empty. You Throw yourself to the ground kicking and screaming that it’s the end of the world because you can’t shop today ( 5 points ) Calmly walk over and ask your friend to lend you some cash ( 3 points ) Renounce electronic banking as a plot to control shoppers; swear to only use cash in the future ( 1 point ) Its your birthday. You’re out with friends and you got $50 to spend. How do you feel? I’ll hang out with my friends and shout them a treat to celebrate ( 3 points ) All I care about is the money. I’ll dump my friends quickly and spend it all on myself ( 5 points ) I’ll donate it to a worthy cause like Buy Nothing Day (who need it desperately), and take a vow of poverty ( 1 point ) You’ve just discovered that your favourite shoes, costing $150, only cost $5 to make,
and the people who make them only get paid $1 a day. You give them to your brother or sister to enjoy and avoid that brand in the future, telling your friends why you came to that decision ( 1 point ) Use white-out and marker pens to hide the label so no one will know ( 3 points) Ensure your friends never find out, by ripping up the article that made you aware of the issue and pretend nothing is wrong ( 5 points ) You notice that your household rubbish bin is always overflowing on rubbish day. Do you Buy a larger bin and hold your nose on rubbish days? ( 5 points ) Talk to the household abou the 3 R’s – reducing, reusing and recycling. Sort the organic waste out for the compost, and the bottles and papers for collections? ( 3 points ) Get rid of the bin, tell your household that from now on you are all selfsufficient and that no one will buy anything from the supermarket which is not in biodegradable packaging? ( 1 point ) HOW DID YOU SCORE? 21 – 30 Shopaholic Alert “Credit Card Junky” - Your Future: working ever harder to pay off 25% interest on an ever-increasing credit card bill. But its not too late for you to find your own cure. Get a real life where the happiness comes free. 10 – 20 “Triple C’s” - “Contempor ar y Confused Consumer ” You’r e having problems with balance. May need to think more carefully about what you really want out of life. Stop thinking you can spend your way to happiness. 6 – 10 “Hero of the Future” You seem well balanced in your consuming, and can see through advertising hype. You can live within your means, enjoy yourself and are aware of ethical concerns without getting down about things. 0 – 5 “Too good to be true” Good on you for enthusiastic concer n, but you may be too tough on yourself (and others). If friends groan with the next petition you hand around, give yourself a break... get your friends to do it! Buy Nothing Day, Auckland http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~stu/buynothing/
[email protected] Endorsed by Friends of the Earth NZ
“And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! ‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a
Once we shopped to buy what we needed. Now that we don’t need that much we shop for other reasons:
to impress each other to fill a void to kill time
On Buy Nothing Day enjoy a break from the shopping frenzy. Relish your power as a consumer to change the economic environment.
Buy Nothing Day challenges our “shop till you drop” mentality by asking you not to shop for one day.
Raw materials and production methods used often have harmful side effects:
toxic waste destruction of wild life wasted energy waste production
Transportation of goods internationally also contributes to pollution when many can be produced nationally
Question your impulses, especially if they involve use of a brand name. Do you really “need a coke”?
Pay Cash: learn to manage your spending and not rely on credit.
Share Things: Can you share it with your neighbors or family?
Use Local Shops: support your local businesses, who can’t always compete with bulk buying power.
Reuse, Repair, Give Away: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Buy Local Made: a lot of fuel goes into transportion.
Make Gifts: it might take time and effort, but no more than finding a parking spot at the mall.
The Mall
For more information check the web:
www.adbusters.org www.buynothingday.co.uk/
